Champions League: Barça and City shine, Brest surprises everyone!

Champions League: Barça and City shine, Brest surprises everyone!

In an exciting second matchday of the Champions League, the big title contenders Manchester City, FC Barcelona and FC Arsenal showed impressive performances and celebrated clear victories. The newly formed team under Hansi Flick, who had to accept a defeat against Monaco in the first round, did not burn anything against the Young Boys from Bern and won 5-0. Star player Robert Lewandowski shone with two goals, while Raphinha and Inigo Martinez also met. In addition, the guests undertook an unfortunate own goal by Mohamed Ali Camara.

Barcelona was once again faced with the challenge of finding a replacement for the injured goalkeeper Marc-André Ter Stegen. Inaki Pena managed this task in the game against the Swiss, while his team was hardly under pressure.

goals for Manchester City and Arsenal

Manchester City, under the direction of Pep Guardiola, competed against Slovan Bratislava and dominated the action from the start. The returnee Ilkay Gündogan scored a goal early on, followed by Phil Foden in the first quarter of an hour. Even after the break, Erling added Haaland and James Mcateee and secured the 4-0 victory for the English team. Before this success, City remained in the first round against Inter Milan without a goal.

Arsenal, after a disappointing 0-0 against Atalanta Bergamo in the first game, showed a strong cooperation against Paris Saint-Germain. DFB striker Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka met and made the 2-0 victory. The French team was without Ousmane Dembélé, who was not in the squad for disciplinary reasons.

Inter remains strong, Stade Brest surprised

Inter Milan also demonstrated his class with a clear 4-0 win against Red Star Belgrade. In contrast, there was an unexpected turn in group A: Stade Brest, the surprise team of the first preliminary round, defeated RB Salzburg 4-0. After winning their start against Sturm Graz 2-1, the French show strong performances this season and fit into the competition with a full score.

The level of the Champions League increases and the favorites position themselves strongly in the group phase. These clear victories are not only an expression of individual talent, but also of a good team game and strategic strength. For the players and coaches, it is still important to take every challenge seriously to achieve the goals in international football. The upcoming games will be decisive and it remains exciting to see how the teams will develop.

For more information on the current games and results, see the current report on www.shz.de .